Buying guide

Everything you want to know about Solid State Drive!

Solid State Drive or SSD as it is more popularly known is a storage device that has been designed around flash memory so that we can store all that we want in a quick and efficient way. The SSD is built in such a manner that instead of having a single part that stores all the data, there are smaller parts that will do the work. In other words, a SSD is basically between 8 or 16 USB flash drives that are linked together in order to perform faster and in a seamless manner. The process of SSD in storing data is direct and rapid. Its speed is its primary benefit over the usual hard drives. So if you are looking to maximize the speed of your computer then SSD is the ultimate choice. This can make your computer faster in several ways:

• Boot time for your system will be reduced

• Application will be launched instantly

• Opening and saving documents won’t be a problem

• The speed of copying and duplicating files will be increased

Choosing your SSD

Consider the price factor

Please bear in mind that an SSD can be significantly higher in cost than an HDD. If you consider $100 as the price, you will pay 83 cents per GB on your SSD compared to just 5 cents per GB on your HDD. For $100, you may be able to buy an HDD with 2TB storage space whereas you will only be able to buy an SSD with 120GB storage space. So, if extra storage is your requirement, it is better to stick to an HDD and even invest in an external HDD. However, if you want to significantly improve the performance of your PC, then nothing beats the SSD.

Ideal versus Real Time read and write speeds

The reason you want to invest in an SSD is so that your PC boots faster, applications will load in lightning quick time and file copying will happen before you bat an eyelid. This happens because the SSDs can read at speeds up to 400Mbps and write at speeds up to 300Mbps. However, the actual read and write speeds are slower than the highest speeds. In most of the SSDs, the actual speeds are two-thirds of the maximum speeds. However, if you opt for one of the topmost SSDs, you will get speeds that exceed two-thirds of the maximum speeds. In any case, these speeds are way faster than HDD read and write speeds.

Consider MLC SSDs with ECC

There are two types of memories used in SSDs – Multi-Level Cell (MLC) and Single-Level Cell (SLC). MLC memory can store more data in each cell and is more economical as far as the price is concerned. Also, when you shop around for an SSD, look for the ones with ECC or Error Correcting Mode. When your SSD has ECC built into it, common data corruption issues are detected and rectified. This means that you don’t need to worry about data getting corrupt or lost.

Remove reliability issues by buying the best

Because the SSD technology is new, there are certain issues with reliability. This is despite the fact that SSDs have no moving parts and they are, thus, more reliable than HDDs. But when you spend all that money on an SSD, you want zero issues with lack of reliability. The best way to make sure that there are no errors is to invest in SSDs that are produced by the top manufacturers.

Is your PC compatible?

To make sure that your SSD is able to perform as per its ability, your PC should be installed with the latest SATA specification. Most of the SSDs use the SATA interface and when your PC has SATA III, data transfer can happen at 6Gbps. Comparatively, SATA I and SATA II allow data transfer speeds of 1.5Gbps and 3Gbps, respectively. Also consider the other compatibility issues with your PC because you don’t want to buy an SSD first and then do this checking.

Which SSDs for which use?

If you are looking at the highest data transfer speed, opt for an SSD that allows up to 6Gbps. The top products in this category are Samsung SSD 850 Pro 256Go 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s, Kingston SSDNow V300 240GB SV300S37A/240G and Crucial 256GB MX100 2.5" CT256MX100SSD1.

Of course, you may want to invest in an SSD with a lower storage space. SSDs like the Samsung SSD 850 Pro 1TB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s or the Crucial 256GB M550 2.5" CT256M550SSD1 or the Samsung SSD MZ-75E1T0B/AM 850 EVO-SERIES 1TB 2.5INCH SATA III Internal SSD With AES 256 Encryption (MZ-75E1T0B/AM) and the Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 1TB SATA III 7MM Internal Solid State Drive (MKNSSDRE1TB) all offer up to 1TB of data storage.

Make sure you opt to buy your SSD manufactured by the top names. Not only will the products be better, but you will also get better customer support should the need arise. The top names in this product segment are Samsung, Crucial, Mushkin, IBM, SanDisk and ADATA.